‘Everyone Was Complaining’—Worrying Scenes for Arsenal Locker Room After First Loss
Bruno Guimarães painted a grim picture of Arsenal’s locker room in the aftermath of Saturday’s dismal 3–0 defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion, revealing that “everyone was complaining” about an “unacceptable” performance on the south coast.
The Gunners were second best from the 18th second of the match, according to Mikel Arteta’s scathing assessment of the club’s first loss this season. Arsenal had already lost the first header of the match, with Diego Gómez out-jumping Christos Tzolis, by the time Riccardo Calafiori tossed a throw-in to Guimarães. The unusually ponderous Brazilian was encircled by two hosts, rolled an under-hit pass to his compatriot Gabriel, whose clearance was gobbled up by a swarm of blue.
“In the first throw, you could sense it, it was so clear,” Arteta lamented, whispering through his postmatch press conference with a thinly veiled sense of fury. The mood was not much brighter in the locker room around the corner.
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“I think today is a day to forget,” Guimarães admitted to assembled reporters after his first Premier League start for the club. “Everything we tried didn’t work. Credit to them [Brighton] as well but we can’t accept this here.
“I think in the changing room, everyone was complaining about ourselves, about the level we played today. Like I said, it’s not acceptable. A very bad day in the office.”
Arteta Tears Into ‘Disrespectful’ Players
Arteta took the manner of his side’s first loss of the season as an act of disrespect. Arsenal’s players knew the challenge set before them—if they had needed a reminder about the prowess of Brighton’s high press, they need have just watched Wednesday’s comeback against Manchester United—but still played into the hosts’ hands.
“Brighton were another gear up from us,” Arteta fumed. “We were extremely poor technically and not respecting the game. And from our side there were certain basics that you need to accomplish in football, especially in the Premier League, that we were very far from.”
“In the first duel, the second ball, that put the game, especially how direct they were, in a really difficult place for us,” the Arsenal manager added. “On top of that, when we did regain the ball, especially in our own half, the amount of technical errors that we did and we didn’t respect any principle of play that you have to get out of those man-to-man situations.”
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Guilty Guimaraes Sends Promise to Fans
Out of all the disappointing displays from those in red over the weekend, Guimarães was arguably guilty of the most egregious performance. This was precisely the type of challenge Arteta had in mind when he sanctioned the $100.4 million (£75 million) acquisition of the Brazilian over the summer. Yet, Arsenal’s expensive pressure valve malfunctioned along with the rest of the team in the face of Brighton’s press.
Perhaps in recognition of his own role in this concerning collapse, the former Newcastle United captain issued a statement of contrition to the Arsenal fanbase, promising better times ahead.
“Definitely not the way we wanted to finish before the international break,” Guimarães wrote on social media. “We know this isn’t the level we should be at when wearing this shirt. We’ll work even harder when we’re back to make sure this doesn’t happen again.
“Thank you for your support, Gunners.”
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